Prepare to Win: Decoding Wooden  Conditioning

I have to tell you this out of fairness. The Science of Winology almost always works, but just not the way that I always say it will.

Listen, I called several champions in my articles before they actually accomplished them, but the Super Bowl was different. I totally called for Manning to maraud the merry men from midway-to-Canada Seattle, but the Seahawks, who were on the verge of championships anyway, made it happen way before I thought they could.

With that said, two weeks ago I called for Florida to win the NCAA basketball championship for the same reasons I called for Louisville last year. The coach of each team, Billy Donovan for Florida and Rick Pitino at Louisville, have national championships under their belts and their teams were designed to win under their systems, as was Seattle in the Super Bowl. So mark down Florida as the 2014 national champion.

One reason for Florida's future championship is their strength and conditioning program. Their coaches are proponents of the same Bigger Faster Stronger model we run here in the HD, as it is the program that regularly produces champions, Heisman Trophy winners and Olympic medalists, all the while keeping athletes safer from injury.

Patric Young of the Gators went to Florida to play ball for one reason only, and that was to win a national championship, as he related in an interview for BFS Magazine. He pointed out that the strength and conditioning coaches gave the players a chance to win rings. The key, however, was his willingness to embrace the program, which he and his team have done, and the rest should be history. It is a common factor with winning athletes; they are conditioned beyond the requirements of the game and what their opponents are willing to do. Their opponents usually settle for enough, while winning athletes strive for more.

In the tenth block of John Wooden's Pyramid of Success, Wooden stressed to his next group of champions to be in condition, "mentally, morally, and physically. Rest, exercise, and diet must be considered," he said. "Moderation must be practiced. Dissipation must be eliminated." Dissipation, or wasted time and diversion, had to go, or the priority of conditioning would go by the wayside and get lost in the business of life. Wooden always wanted his players to be balanced in their time management, but with no uncertainty, make winning behavior their focus, as all other things were diversions. In short, these diversions would be wrong turns on the way to winning destinations.

Wooden's conditioning program led to many reactions amongst his players. Former UCLA player Swen Nater said, "Besides the application of what we were learning, one purpose of scrimmaging full-court was to accelerate our conditioning and stamina. It was the most physically demanding thing I had ever done." Nater went on to say, "By the time I departed, the UCLA Bruins hung three more NCAA championship banners from the rafters in Pauley Pavilion."

As a note, Nater, though he was a back up to legendary champion Bill Walton at UCLA, was a two-time ABA All-Star and received praise wherever he played for his commitment to conditioning.

In my book, "10 Traits of Winning Athletes," I talked about ex-UCLA center Mark Eaton. I watched Eaton throughout his career at UCLA and he was, quite honestly, ineffective for the most part. However, upon arriving in the NBA and playing for the Utah Jazz, he and another player, some cat named Karl "The Mailman" Malone, embraced the principles of Bigger Faster Stronger, and it changed their franchise. Until that point, Utah was a mess, so the coach, Tom Nissalke, met with BFS founder Greg Shepard, who implemented his conditioning principles with the team. Eaton embraced them immediately and transformed into a winning player who went on to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Malone, who was resistant in the beginning, became noted for his game strength, game conditioning and eventual Hall of Fame status. Heck, Malone even became a strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater of Louisiana Tech for a time. You think he imparted winning ideas of conditioning to them?

What Do Winners Do (WDWD)? If timeless champions like UCLA men's basketball players made conditioning the foundation of all that they did, then those who win are more than likely to be in better condition than their opponents and are conditioned beyond the requirements of any game, competition or race. Got it? Good.

George Mangum, M.A., is a WIN psychologist and the founder of Bigger Faster Stronger-High Desert, where athletes at all levels are prepared to win physically, emotionally and mentally. George can be contacted at 760-403-3449 or on Facebook at Bigger Faster Stronger-High Desert. You can also follow him at twitter.com/thewincoach.